European court lawyer backs Google

A top lawyer at the European Court of Justice says Google and other search engines should not be responsible when personal information appears on web pages they index, a defeat for the so-called "right to be forgotten" privacy principle under debate in Europe.

A top lawyer at the European Court of Justice says Google and other search engines should not be responsible when personal information appears on web pages they index, a defeat for the so-called "right to be forgotten" privacy principle under debate in Europe.

The court's independent Advocate General, Niilo Jaaskinen, says in a written opinion that websites, not Google, should bear responsibility for information they publish.

The Luxembourg-based court was asked to rule on the point due to a case in Spain, where the national data protection agency had received complaints from individuals who said personal information from years ago could be found.